Matchbooks.com: Making College a Little Less Expensive

We only have a few years before my daughter goes off to college, so of course I am already looking into ways to save money to make her college years more affordable. One of the biggest expenses outside of tuition are the books required.

Luckily, I recently heard about MatchBooks, an inventive alternative to spending a ton on college textbooks. Here’s how it works: The team at Matchurbook.com starts with a high-quality open textbook and then matches it to the expensive book being used in a large “intro” course – take for instance, Psychology 101. MatchBooks follow the same chapter layout, cover the same topics, and includes the same key terms of the assigned textbook. They essentially give students a “matched book” – only it is free!

Here’s a more specific example: Your child has is taking General/Intro Psychology and the assigned textbook is “Psychology” Myers 9th edition. Well, there’s a FREE MatchBook for Myers Psych that they can read online, with no expiration date and no fee! The MatchBook team took Introduction to Psychology by Charles Stangor and then rearranged the content to match the order of topics in the ninth edition of Psychology by David Myers. MatchBook for Myers Psych is the first MatchBook, but there will be more Matchbooks released this year.

MatchBooks are published under a Creative Commons open license, which makes it possible for students to read online for free!

Matchurbook.com is a project of Flat World Knowledge, the world’s largest publisher of free and open college textbooks. You can learn more about Flat World Knowledge by liking the Flat World Knowledge on Facebook!

Do you have a child currently in college? I am curious as to how many people are currently using Matchbooks, or if they are planning to use them and recommend them to their friends!

About Jenn

I'm a 30-something with a simple motto: the journey IS the destination. I strive to find joy in every day life and love sharing my excitement over new recipes, travel adventures, fun products and great movies!